Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

This evening's debate offers the Government an opportunity to outline the measures it will take to deal with the consequences of the disastrous floods in Cork city and other areas. In Cork city alone, 18,000 homes are without drinking water this evening. I ask the Government what steps are being taken to restore water supplies, particularly in light of the implications for health and hygiene, and to identify the cause of the severe flooding in the Cork region.

I commend local authority employees, emergency services, Civil Defence and communities on the work they have done over the past several days. However, I wish to speak about the systems management of the crisis. While the management of emergency services has been effective in many regions, shortcomings can be identified in communication and information provision. Cork City Council did not set up a freefone number until last night. Previously, people were advised to consult the council's website or ring several different telephone numbers. If somebody uses a pre-pay mobile telephone, he or she will quickly run out of credit while calling these numbers. Emergency numbers should be part of the response protocol and immediately advertised over the broadcast media. A ticker tape system on television programmes could have provided local information.

During the early days of the flooding, we saw plenty of footage of flooded areas but little information about how people could seek help. People in Cork city had to rely on a chap called P.J. Coogan to find out what was happening because the council did not establish a press unit until long after the floods had started. Mr. Coogan provided information to the people of Cork until 10.30 p.m. on Friday night and was out again at 6 a.m. the following day. His television colleagues, such as Paul Byrne from TV3 and Paschal Sheehy from RTE, did likewise. However, they were not briefed on a regular basis.

The Pitt review produced in the aftermath of similar flooding in Britain in 2007 stated that the floods were a wake up call and that flood risks are here to stay. The Minister of State referred to two documents. There is a very simple difficulty with both of the documents. We did not have assistance management in place but, more importantly, Cork County Council is charged with this document, along with the Department. Given that the council is advising other agencies and those applying for planning as to how to proceed with flood risk management, it beggars belief as to how the council was itself closed because of flood.

A hotel across from Cork County Council's building, which was only renovated three or four years ago - with planning permission from the council - was flooded. It was built on a flood plain. If one could believe it, the hotel has an underground car park that is now an underground swimming pool because of the flood. Questions must be asked by the Minister and his Department.

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